[David]

I would be grateful for any information on, or references to, the environmental impact of hovercraft on wildlife.

I understand EIAs have been done in many places including Hong Kong, the Amazon, Alaska and the Wadden Sea.



David

[John Cantelo]

If I could remember where my old notebooks were, and assuming I had the info therein, I might be able to contribute to the thread in a more meaningful way than is the case. However, as it is I do have a recollection that when in the 1960s they were testing the then new fangled hovercraft they did have an impact on the numbers of Great-crested Grebes and Goldeneye wintering in Southampton Water off Weston shore (a suburb of Southampton). That said given our primitive optics and equally primitive birding skills they might have merely shifted a little to be out of sight.

It might be worth contacting Sandwich Bay Bird Observatory (Kent). There used to be quite large hovercraft operating out of nearby Pegwell Bay and the Obs. will have a good set of figures both pre-dating and post dating these operations.
John